7 steps to a speedy close

Get there early. Creating and winning opportunities means being early. If you want to win, the earlier you enter the client’s buying cycle, the better. Getting out in front of a deal will work to your advantage.

Wire the relationships. Creating new opportunities and winning them means already having the building wired before you begin. If you have established relationships, you will have the inside track on potential opportunities. You’ll know who’s involved in these opportunities, and more important, they’ll know you.

Develop a deep understanding. You need a deep understanding of your dream client’s needs. One of the reasons relationships are so important is that they provide you access to individuals and information. This access gives you a deep understanding of what your clients need and how best to deliver it.

Collaborate. You can go in with a disruptive idea and create dissatisfaction. This works sometimes. But much of the time your prospect will already have an idea about the right solution. They’re hoping to see that solution reflected in your recommendation. Closing business requires that you collaborate with prospects on the solutions to their needs.

Build consensus. If you want to win opportunities, there has to be agreement from your client that your solution is right and that they will benefit from it. You want to develop consensus around those solutions so that when it’s time to pull the trigger, everyone is already on board.

Resolve concerns. No matter how well you do in meeting your prospects’ needs, in the end they’re likely to have concerns. These concerns might sound like objections, but what your prospects are telling you is that they need more information to be confident. They want proof. So try to resolve concerns during the sales process. That way you make it easy to say yes.

Ask. I don’t believe the answer to winning new business can be found in a basic how-to-close textbook. I think buyers are too sophisticated for most of that. Instead, ask directly for the business.

Now that you’ve read this list, you know there’s no possible way you can close that deal in five minutes. In complex sales, you may have invested months working through the sales process. If you’ve done what needs to be done, wrapping up the sale should be fast and easy.

The truth of the matter is it’s possible to close in 30 seconds. Say “I feel like we’ve done what we needed to in order to successfully execute on this project. Can we begin working on it or is there something else you need to see first?”

Take care of your prospect throughout the sales process, and the close will take care of itself.

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S. Anthony Iannarino is the managing director of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, a boutique sales coaching and consulting company, and an adjunct faculty member at Capital University’s School of Management and Leadership. For more information, go http://thesalesblog.com/s-anthony-iannarino/